Read Legends of Dimmingwood 02:Betrayal of Thieves for Free Online Page B

sleeve to touch one of my sheathed knives. I wouldn’t draw the weapon yet. I just needed to feel it there.
    It’s nothing , I repeated to myself. Only a drunk, only an innocent passerby . The knife handle beneath my fingers steadied me as I strained for any out of place sound. I heard nothing. No one passed by my hiding place. Maybe they turned onto a different path or entered one of the dark buildings. I counted slowly to a hundred before pulling my hand away from my knife and starting back for the mouth of the alley.
    I hadn’t gone two steps before a looming shadow separated itself from the wall down the far end. I started, not just at the unexpected movement, but at a sudden stirring inside my head. No more soft whispers. The voice of the bow was loud and distinct this time.
    Yes ! Blood ! Death ! Let me kill for you !
    I flinched and yet, compelled by an instinct not my own, my hands reached for the bow. Why am I doing this ? a confused part of my mind demanded. It was the knives I should grab for, not the bow.
    I had no chance to sort out my thoughts and in the end it didn’t matter what I reached for, because my hand never found either weapon. There was a whisper of movement across the alley and with no more warning than that, something solid and fist-sized flew through the air to strike me across the brow. I felt a swift rush of pain and then a sea of black was rising up to claim me.

 
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
     
    I awoke to the crashing boom of thunder and a dull throbbing in my skull. My dark surroundings were unfamiliar, and it took me a moment to recognize the alley where I lay sprawled across the cobblestones. As I sat up, clutching my aching head, it all came rushing back to me. The attack in the alley. The blow from an unseen enemy. Looking around now and casting my magic sense out like a net, I discovered no sign of my attacker.
    I groaned as another boom of thunder sounded. The last thing I needed, as I huddled in the cold and dark with a splitting headache, was rain. Not when I had nowhere to take shelter for the night. I climbed to my feet, the motion setting my head spinning and forcing me to pause and lean against the near stone wall until the dizziness passed. Pushing aside the discomfort, I tried to figure out how long I’d been unconscious. Not long surely, for it was still dark.
    I glanced uneasily into the shadowed mouth of the alley and wondered if my attacker was lying in wait for me out there. But no, whoever it was, they could have killed me easily while I was out cold, if that was what they wanted. Knowing that didn’t stop my hands moving of their own volition toward the knives tucked up my sleeves. They weren’t there.
    Dismayed, I patted frantically at my sleeves as if I could make the weapons magically reappear and scanned the ground at my feet, sensing already the action was a futile one. It didn’t take me long to find my pockets had been emptied as well. There seemed something stupidly ironic about my having fallen victim to a footpad, but at least I could be relieved it had been nothing worse. I wondered what my outlaw brethren would think of my clumsy mishap in the big city and immediately determined they would never hear about it from me.
    Thoughts of Rideon and the rest reminded me what I was doing in Selbius in the first place. It was time to find Hadrian and get back to my mission. Dusting myself off, I resettled my clothing and smoothed my hair, re-knotting it in a sleek tail down my back, before stepping out of the alley. At least the thief had left me in possession of my coat and bow, either because he was in a hurry or just not too hard up.
    I was startled by another ear-shattering clap of thunder overhead and a bright flash of light. But when I glanced skyward, it wasn’t shards of lightening that met my eyes, but thousands of multi-colored sparks raining down from the sky. A second volley of sky-fires followed, coming from the direction of the garden district. I was